Jeri, I live in the North Bay, about 40 miles from SF. We get occasional fog but mostly hot and dry during summer. The North Bay is fortunate enough to be without water rationing this year. The East Bay residents however are hurting. I was in a get together last night and all they were all talking about was how their gardens are starting to turn yellow. Still, most of them were unable to meet the 19% required reduction, a reduction from previous conservation efforts. It seems they have just received the feared notification letter from their county telling them that their efforts have fallen short thus they will be subjected to subsequent penalties. Tough position to be in. On the lighter side, they all decided to come to the house to take their showers and do their laundry. I now see how condition like this could narrow down or affect your choices. You have mentioned in another post that chinas, teas, and noisettes would be best suited to our terroir. I agree. The older roses thrive like weeds here; these plants seem to be able to break the hard soil and squeeze out whatever moisture there is in it. I have Sally Homes and Buff Beauty (musk) planted facing west but continue to be unfazed by the heat and now each at least 8 feet tall. I have a Mutabilis that is hardly watered that has grown 10 feet tall and as wide. I have an Alfred Carriere that is covering more than half of a crabapple tree. And my favorite but shy Tipsy, although unhappy for not getting enough sun, continue to grow and bloom with minimal care. I could not get the picture out of my head of your Lady Banks scrambling over the tree tops. Or the one that wrapped itself around a pine tree in a Sacramento cemetery. What a magnificent plant. You had me with GrandmotherÂs Hat and its clone. Sorry for the interruption. Bobby

I am oon my second set of Thai Giants. bought the first two from and wintered them over in the pot for 2 yrs. I do domestic and wildlife rescue and had an extremely large emergency rescue of 13 cats! YIKES!!! Well needless too say the rescue kitties were not very nice too my thai's and well.. they have died! The kitties were all adopted out, but my plants suffered major casualties! I bought a new thia giant this year, from a local nursery, and I am dying to get this sucker in the ground but want ideal conditions for it. I plan to dig it up for the winter season but want this sucker to have the best spot in the yard. So maybe a few tips on getting mine to look that fabulous?? I have read a lot about them for the past few years but no one can really give me some ideal growing conditions that are tried and true. can u lend a little advice on how yours is planted, light, soil, acidity ect..???

Robert: The narrow strip on unlogged trees along Redwood creek was left to provide access to what were then thought to be the tallest trees in the world. A big section of logged over land surrounding the "worm" was added to the park with the park expansion bill. I was one of two lobbyists for the Sierra club working to make sure our Senators and Congressmen had the right information and would support the bill. It is a shame that that land, and even more, was not included in the original park, which really did not preserve that much additional old growth redwood forest. By this time much of the Bull creek watershed has recovered somewhat--the cutting there was done close to 60 years ago. As for the incorrect measurement of the "Mother of the Forest Tree": As a percent of the total height, the amount of error is not that uncommon. The most frequent error, is what I noted in my discussion above--the top of the tree, or a point sighted as the top, was closer to the observer than a point directly above the base of the tree. So, when the angle for computing the height was read, the clinometer gave an angle steeper than the true angle would be. The problem occurs because the measurement to the base of the tree was made separately from the measurement of the angle. For these calculations, whether for the ENTS method, or the previous method, a right triangle is assumed, but unless the top sighted is directly over the base, no right triangle actually exists for the calculations, leading to distorted results. The ENTS method assumes TWO right triangles, and measures two distances and two angles, and then combines. So whether the tree leans, or whether the top is directly over the base, is not an issue. But this method, using the convenience of the laser rangefinder, is, after all, much easier and faster. The difficulty is finding a good window to the top, and judging what the true top is, especially when sightlines are difficult and the crown of the tree is broad and/or complex. When no good window can be found--if the tree is very special--it will be climbed, and a tape dropped. Now this is really difficult and takes both climbing AND measuring expertise. And one or two additional people. With the ENTS "sine top, sine base," the angle and the height are measured on the same sight line. The assumed right triangle always--and of necessity--always exists for the calculations. If an error occurs, it is usually to underestimate the height. This would happen when something other than the true top is sighted. The ENTS method will give a true height of whatever twig is sighted, whether the top or not. Note that Will Blozan, when he measured the tree, moved 600 feet away to ensure that from his angle--from far away--he could sight the true top. And, because the distance and angle are measured along the same line and from the same point, the issue of whether the top is perfectly over the base is not an issue. The base is measured the same way as the top, and the height added or subtracted, as the case may be. What may have happened with the "Mother" tree, is either someone did not have enough patience to try to find a visual "window" for sighting the true top of the tree.--so if he stood too close to the tree, allowing him to sight some twig that was more to the side of the crown towards himself rather than at the absolute top, and that twig were a relatively small distance closer to the observer than the base of the tree, whether it were the true top or not, a large overestimation of the height could occur. Or, if the true top was sighted, but that top were closer to the observer than a point directly over the base, that would lead to the same kind of error. Of course, errors could occur in measuring the distance to the trunk, even it the top were directly over the base. Of course, people using the ENTS method can make errors, but any error will not occur simply because it is built into the methodology, as has been the case with the method commonly applied previously. Want to have some fun: get some equipment and start measuring. The now discontinued Nikon 440 rangefinder is perhaps the most preferred rangefinder because it has a narrow laser beam that can pass through narrow openings without giving a false echo from surrounding clutter. Used ones usually available on e-bay, often for between $100 and $150. I also use a basic Suunto clinometer and $13 scientific calculator. If I can sight the top and the base without too much searching, I can get readings, punch in the numbers and get a tree height in maybe as little as two minutes. --Spruce

My tomato season is officially over. I finally gave in and harvested the last of my (unripe) tomatoes yesterday. I had a Black Cherry and 2 Bloody Butchers in bucket SWCs that I've been putting in the garage on cold nights (and for hurricanes), but the vines have finally had it. Our weather this season similar to what many others have posted, spring was on the cool side, summer very hot and dry, then some heavy rains and hurricane in late summer. Early on groundhog attack destroyed 6 of my choice plants and set back 4 others by at least 3 weeks. I had problems with spider mites again during the heat, in part because I reused some of 2010's mix for seedling (bad idea). Plants did fine disease-wise until after the heavy rains toward the end of the season, then early blight and Septoria set in--big time. - Bloody Butcher: 2nd year, 2 plants in small SWCs. Early and excellent flavor and decent production. Will grow 2012. - Sungold: 2nd year, 2 plants in small SWCs. Excellent flavor and good production, some cracking. Will grow 2012. - Yellow Pear: 2nd year, 2 plants in small SWCs. Mild flavor, but a favorite of some family members. Good production. Will grow 1 for 2012. - Black Cherry: 2nd year, 2 plants in small SWCs. Excellent flavor and good production. Will grow 2012. -Rose: 2nd year, 1 in-ground, 1 in 18gal SWC. Was favorite in 2010, but not as good this year. Fruit tended to ripen unevenly. Plant was too big for 18gal SWC. Some cracking. Will grow 2012 (maybe just one). -Big Beef: 1st year, 2 plants in-ground. Very good producer, nice looking fruit, but nothing special in the taste department. Won't grow again. -Black Krim: 2nd year, 1 in-ground, 1 in 18 gal SWC. Decent producer, Excellent flavor, a little cracking. -Mr. Stripey: 3rd year, 1 in-ground, 1 in 18gal SWC. In-ground plant had a lot of cracking and rotting on the vine, but earlier fruit was good. SWC plant had golf-ball sized fruit. Might skip for 2012. -Green Zebra: 1st year, 1 in 18gal SWC. Good producer and surprisingly tasty (a bit lemony). Will grow in 2012. -Cherokee Purple: 2nd year, 1 in-ground plant. Low and late production, probably due to early on groundhog damage. Was 2nd favorite in 2010, so will grow in 2012. -Ramapo OP: 1st year, 1 in-ground plant. Nice tasting basic tomato. Low and late production due to groundhog. Maybe for 2012. -Martino's Roma (Italian Pear): 1st year, 2 in-ground. Nice paste tomato, very good producer. I liked it better than Amish paste from 2010. Will grow in 2012. Grew some Rosa Bianca eggplant this year and like it better than Black Beauty. Also grew 'Fairy Tale' eggplant for 2nd year and it's a keeper. Hot peppers all did very good, low and late yields out of Bells. My main pepper was supposed to be Crunch Sweet Orange, but I wasn't careful saving seed in 2010 and it was crossed (probably with Fresno), so we had lots of red hot peppers instead of orange sweet peppers. We loved the Crunch Sweet Orange in 2010, so I'm hoping someone out there has done a better job than me saving seed so I can try again. Here's to 2012 tomatoes!